December 31, 2004:
The legend of Jeff Tedford is dead. It perished in flames over San Diego, punctured by a one-dimensional passing attack from a fourth-place team, and fell in the former Jack Murphy Stadium as flat as the listless Golden Bear team he led into the Holiday Bowl this Thursday past.
With a Cal receiving corps in shambles, Tedford attempted to go to the air as he had in September and October, where the Bears featured America’s finest receivers on Saturdays. But Chase Lyman has a shredded ACL, Geoff McArthur has a broken leg, and Burl Toler can barely walk, and while Jonathan Makkonen made yeoman’s work of his last outing, he cannot disguise the steps he has lost since the season began. Nevertheless, despite the presence of J.J. Arrington in his backfield, Tedford insisted on trying to throw the ball to a patchwork of unsteady receivers. Aaron Rodgers, shaky since November, was ill served by this decision. While NFL glory may yet await him, he can no longer be considered the nation’s premier quarterback. Against Texas Tech, he was not even the best quarterback in the stadium.
The only choice should have been to pound the ball up the middle, establish control of the line of scrimmage, and try to dictate the pace of the game. Instead, Cal handed the ball time and again to the Red Raiders, whose offense features at best four plays: a slant inside, a ten yard out pattern, and a deep ball to the post, punctuated by a weak little fullback dive that fools no one. Yet they executed those plays over and over and over, leaving Cal to wonder what might have been.
Nothing that happened here reduced the fact that Cal has a strong season, or that they were wrongly snubbed by the BCS. But with a complete absence of fire, and with no apparent motivation of any kind, they fell on their face tonight, leaving the Cal faithful with nine months worth of embarassment and disappointment. It is a sickening end to what should have been a triumphant season, and it is now up to Jeff Tedford to give an accounting of why he picked tonight to deposit a one-point-five million dollar flop on the grass of San Diego…
At the risk of invoking Godwin’s Law, Jeff Tedford couldn’t motivate a synagogue to fight Nazis. If there were any doubt about that, last night’s Holiday Bowl loss to the Texas Longhorns – featuring four turnovers and offensive line pass blocking that suggests the guards and tackles were replaced with Girl Scouts – should settle the argument once and for all.
Next year: eight wins, victory over at least one of the LA schools, and the Axe. Otherwise, he goes. Jeff Tedford has already demonstrated he is no longer fit for purpose as head coach of the Golden Bears, and is only spared this year on account of the bizarre circumstances of the season. But next year’s order is simple: win or you’re gone. Cal can flop without paying two million dollars a year for the privilege.